#Congo

Illegal wildlife trade is of immense value to criminal organizations and armed non-state actors such as al-Shabaab in Somalia.

In 2003, Henri Ladyi turned his back on the endless fighting in the DRC. Twelve years later he has been called “Africa’s Schindler” for his peacebuilding efforts in the eastern part of the country.

This is something rare. Knowledge of a rapidly deteriorating situation in Africa and a somewhat timely, actual action by those in the world with the power to intervene. The situation is in the Central African Republic. And that intervening is the first step to stabilizing the slaughter and – hopefully – stopping another genocide from […]

As old as Cortez and colonialism, the quest to satisfy modern appetites underlines economic scarcity and, increasingly, political instability. Mining in less-mature economies runs the same risks as its fossil fuel cousins. Over several days in late May, protestors in Kyrgyzstan cut off power to its Kumtor gold mine, vital to the country’s economy; they […]

Last March, after seeing its nearly 20,000-strong peacekeeping force embarrassed by Congolese rebels in armed clashes outside of Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) second biggest city, the U.N.  Security Council decided unanimously to deploy 3,000 troops to act as an “intervention brigade” in the eastern part of the country. The intervention brigade was given […]

It was Zaire then. As I sat along the shore of Lake Tanganyika in Bujumbura, Burundi,   I marveled at the moment. Baby hippos splashed playfully in the water as their adults looked carefully from across the way. The sun set with purples and yellows and pinks, in rays shooting up to the sky in sharp […]

While the subject matter is fascinating, this film falls short in at least a couple of ways. First, the music doesn’t seem to sync up with the action, being loud and dramatic during quiet scenes and being almost silent during the high drama that takes place. It also presupposes that the viewer is familiar with […]

Last spring, I attended an event about the new positive resource contracts of Liberia, held at Revenue Watch, an international NGO which seeks transparency in the finances of governments with natural resources. During the Q & A, a man got up to congratulate a Liberian official there, and to pray that in his own country, […]

Last week, Iranian President Ahmadinejad once again outraged the world by calling the Holocaust a “myth”. To be honest, it is embarrassing to me as a Muslim when I see a Muslim leader espouse such vitriol. This summer I went to the Dachau concentration camp and it was one of the most heart wrenching experience. […]

A few facts about the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): Numerous individual conflicts  since 1996, involving up to 7 nations and 25 armed groups.  Estimates of between 3.5 and 7.8 million deaths since 1998.  Hundreds of thousands of refugees.  Over 200,000 UN reported rapes in the last decade.  Women in the […]

A photojournalism exhibition you do not want to miss if you are in the New York area is Brent Stirton’s “The Last Gorillas of the Congo” on display through August at Fovea. Stirton is an award-winning and otherwise highly-accomplished photojournalist. A senior staff photographer for Getty Images, his work is published in National Geographic, Newsweek, […]